Jiang Nan Hotpot (Banawe) — Restaurant in Quezon City

Invited my partner to try out Jiang Nan Hotpot—a place that always shows up when we search for hotpot and is recommended by most of our friends whenever cravings hit.

We availed their: Unlimited Hotpot (₱699)

1. Soup: Original The soup was light, boosted by herbs and spices, and tasted like stock.

2. Soup: Mild Spicy Compared to the OG, this one had more herbs and spices, plus extra peppers to give it a bit of a kick.

3. Meat: US, Angus, and Philippine Beef / Don’t overcook the Angus — it gets tough to eat. The US beef went perfectly with the OG soup. It was tender, rich, and full of umami. The Philippine beef had a bolder flavor and paired well with the mild spicy soup. It was earthy, chewier, and leaner.

4. Vegetable: Corn Always a go-to. The corn was sweet, fresh, and good whether dipped in the soup or not.

5. Balls: Lobster, Crabstick, Taro Stick All the balls were fresh, not frozen. The lobster balls were mildly sweet and savory, soaking up the soup well. The crabsticks were sweet, slightly fishy, and a bit salty with a mild “crab-like” flavor. You can soak them longer, but I prefer not to as the layers tend to peel apart. My partner went to town with the taro sticks—they were earthy, nutty, and had that natural starchiness. They become soft, creamy, and slightly crumbly when soaked.

6. Mushroom: King, Shitake mushroom My partner described both mushrooms as earthy and nutty. She likes leaving them in the soup to enhance the flavor.

7. Juice: Plum Tart, naturally sweet, and fruity. A great way to cut through the richness of the meat and sauces.

8. Sauces: Jiang Nan Signature Sauce / Create your own I really liked their signature sauce — it was nutty, aromatic, and a bit sweet, which complemented the protein really well. You can also create your own sauce at the bar. My partner modified the signature sauce by adding tons of chili, which made her sweat with every dip.

Overall, our cravings were satisfied. The service was on point — there were many servers, and they were attentive. My only nitpick is that all tables were set up for both hotpot and grill. There were no dedicated hotpot tables, so the exhaust was placed vertically above where the grill would...

This branch is terrible. Visit Makati branch instead! Food you order don't get served. Every utensil, you have to ask for. You have to call the attention of servers to turn the exhaust on despite them seeing the smoke building up (grill). Upon turning it on, it wasn't really much of a help.

Just finished dining here after a long wait. They seated us on the second floor, table 23 to be exact. It's not that much of a busy time given that lots of people already finished dining before they let us in and nearby tables were empty.

We checked a lot of items on the menu expecting them to get served but only a few arrived with no advise whatsoever if the others were unavailable. We can't ask since the servers just leave right away and it is very hard to call anybody's attention. A little later, we tried to get additional meat, it was again acknowledged but still, nothing! Bottles of water, yakult, ZERO.

They served juice without providing us any cup, gave cup which was broken and ended up leaking on the table.

The sauce which made them popular tasted very differently here. Also asked to be served a new one but taste didn't improve. It was more peanut butter/ sauce than anything else.

Upon paying, we had to request for the bill twice but it was taking so long, we decided to just go downstairs and pay at the counter. Got served with the bill and somebody else's ID was still clipped on the bill pad.

Overall an annoying and disappointing experience....

Definitely worth it. I mean people are dissatisfied with the current rating.

Points to consider: Fall in line early. Make sure to place your name on the list at least 10 30am. 11am is the starting time. If you make it on the first batch, then the issue of waiting. It is already resolved. If you are just 2-4 persons, I'd suggest not availing the grill which is +210 pesos. 3.5. it would take up your space. More space would mean more hotpot food.

If you carefully plan what you will eat, then it's a matter of quantity regardless. And you go to a hotpot place not to grill, but to do hotpot.

Of course, if you are more than 4 pax, then I guess it's ok to avail the grill since there will always be food traffic on the hotpot, then there will be less waiting time for other food varieties.

Soups. Refills are just normal soup base. So you're now informed.

Sauces: there's the pre set up dipping sauce, then you can make your own. If you had a soup refill, you can add the flavor by adding your own sauce.

All meats here are fresh. At least when the time we visited.

Note/s: Filipino beef is very lean, so it's kinda chewy. Some categories like mushroom and veggies has assorted option to it.

Favorites: US Beef, pork belly, fresh pork/beef, beancurd tofu, golden mushroom, fish.

Price: Sundays: we paid around 699 ++ so around 730 per head (this is just for the hotpot). Time limit is 2 hours. Servers were attentive so we...